Fajita Time! ...and make them Hot!

Wasabi Beef Fajitas

A handful of years ago, when I was just starting out in the kitchen…well aside from baking because I realized as an adult I can’t live off cookies and cupcakes…and pre-made frozen food. Turns out cooking fresh food tastes a hell of a lot better.

Anyways, I started purchasing some cookbooks, paging through them and picking different, easier, recipes to try out. This one in particular jumped out at me because the idea behind it was it should be a quick meal to throw together, 30 minutes prep and cook time. Turns out, Kendra is incredibly slow in the kitchen so the first time I made these it still probably took me an hour. The original recipe came from one of my Taste of Home Cookbooks, they have fantastic recipes and great ideas!

Always, gather all of your ingredients, chop the veggies before hand so you’re not trying to chop them while you have the oil heating in the pan – simple things that I messed up early in my kitchen days.

Start with the sauce, grab your ingredients and measuring spoons and get that put together.

Now, I strongly recommend using a Wok for this recipe, it really allows you to cook the veggies and the meat quickly over a greater surface area and NOT overcook the meat and make it chewy. Do the veggies first, remove them from the pan, then cook the meat. Once the meat is done to your desired temperature (me, I like my beef medium-rare so I cook my beef a little less) add in the sauce!

Let this boil for a couple of minutes, it will thicken up, stir consistently to coat the meat generously. After a couple of minutes toss the veggies back in the pan with the meat and reduce the heat. Heat everything, stirring occasionally, until it’s all warm and smelling delicious.

And that…it that, grab the toppings you desire and assemble your fajitas!

Simple Straight Forward Recipe:

-1 tablespoon cornstarch

-2 ½ tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce and 1-2 tablespoon Hoisin sauce (or 3-4 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce)

-2 teaspoons prepared wasabi (add more if you want some extra heat)

-2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, shredded or finely minced (or you can use dried minced ginger, fresh is better though!)

-2 cloves of garlic, crushed

-1 large red pepper sliced or chopped whatever floats your boat

-10 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces (including the white parts)

-About 2 tablespoons sesame oil

-1-pound stir-fry beef strips you can use pre-cut, sirloin, chuck roast, hell use chicken if you want to!)

-Flour tortillas

Cheese, Sour Cream or whatever toppings you’d like

Start with making the sauce; in a small bowl combine the cornstarch with the soy sauce until smooth, stir in the wasabi, ginger, and garlic until it’s nice and blended. Set this aside for now. *Tidbit: most of the time I make an extra bit of sauce because…well I like the sauce.

In a large skillet or wok, heat about 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil over a medium-high heat. Stir-fry the red pepper and green onions for about 2-3 minutes or just until they’re getting tender. Remove the veggies and set aside.

Take the remaining oil and let that heat for a couple of minutes, add the beef and stir-fry for roughly 5 minutes, just until the beef is no longer pink. Stir the sauce mixture in with the beef and bring to a boil. Cook and stir frequently for about 2 minutes, then reduce the heat just a tad so it’s more medium, than medium-high.

Toss the veggies back in with the meat and stir to coat nicely, heat it throughout for another couple of minutes.

Warm some tortillas, gather your toppings (my original recipe called for a coleslaw mix) and build your fajitas!